Broker to Sell My Business: Should You Hire One?

This article was originally written in March 2025 and has since been updated with new discoveries and research in January 2026.

If you’re searching “broker to sell my business”, you’re already in the hard part: Deciding how much help you want, and how much control (and cost) you can live with. For most owners, selling happens once, maybe never again, so the “broker or not” choice tends to shape everything that follows.

A good process looks like this: You protect confidentiality in a business sale, attract credible interest, keep deal momentum through diligence, and walk away with a net number you feel good about. A bad one looks like leaks, tire-kickers, stalled diligence, and a lot of emotional labor you didn’t budget for.

When a Broker Is the Right Path

There are plenty of situations where full-service representation is the most rational move, even if it costs more. The key is whether complexity and risk are high enough that experienced orchestration materially improves your odds.

A broker is often the right fit when:

• The deal shape is complex: Multiple partners, a partner buyout, seller financing, earn-outs, or lender-heavy structures that require careful sequencing.

• Your industry is reputation-sensitive or regulated: Outreach needs to be discreet, and the “wrong” buyer conversation can cause real harm.

• The buyer pool is thin or fragmented: You need curated introductions, not just a listing.

• Founder bandwidth is limited: You cannot realistically manage packaging for business sales, screening, meetings, negotiation, and follow-ups without the process dragging.

The point is not that a broker magically makes a business sell. It’s that, in the right scenario, a broker functions like a general contractor: they coordinate the specialists and the timeline so the project doesn’t fall apart halfway through.

When You Might Not Need a Broker

Not every business needs a traditional broker, and forcing one into a simple deal can create friction instead of value. If you have strong demand, clean financials, and time to run the process, you may do fine with a lighter-touch approach.

You might not need a broker if:

• The business is a straightforward “main street” transaction with tidy books and consistent demand.

• Your financial story is clean: obvious add-backs, minimal owner dependency, and few stakeholders.

• You can commit weekly time to inquiries, screening, and updates without disappearing for a month at a time.

If that’s you, it can be smarter to pair a marketplace listing with targeted support at the moments that matter most, like valuation, buyer screening, and the first serious negotiations.

What a Broker Actually Does

It’s easy to think a broker “lists the business.” In reality, the job is closer to building a controlled sales process where information is released in layers, the right buyers are prioritized, and momentum is protected when diligence gets messy.

Here’s what that usually includes, end-to-end.

Pricing and Positioning

This is the part most owners underestimate. Your broker should help you land on defensible pricing, not aspirational, using a clear valuation narrative for the business sale (what the business earns, why it’s durable, and what a buyer can do to grow it).

When pricing is wrong, everything else becomes harder: fewer qualified inquiries, slower momentum, and more negotiation fatigue. When pricing is right, diligence feels like verification, not interrogation.

Outreach and Buyer Screening

A broker’s outreach is part marketing and part filtering. The good ones build targeted lists, run multi-channel outreach, and then enforce buyer vetting so you’re not spending Thursdays talking to people who cannot close.

That screening should lead to pre-qualified buyers who have the financial capacity, relevant intent, and seriousness to move forward without dragging your team into endless “maybe” conversations.

Offer Orchestration and Diligence Coordination

Once interest turns into offers, the job becomes orchestration: Keeping bids organized, managing counteroffers, coordinating with attorneys and lenders, and keeping deal diligence from stalling.

This is also where process maturity shows up. Anyone can get interest. Not everyone can keep a buyer engaged through diligence when questions get uncomfortable.

The Real Cost of Hiring a Broker

Here’s the uncomfortable truth: a broker can be worth it and still be expensive. What matters is understanding the math and the contract triggers, so you know what you’re paying for and when.

Typical Fee Structures and Who Pays

Most broker arrangements include some combination of:

• A success-based commission (a percentage of the sale price)

• A retainer or monthly fee (often positioned as “commitment” or “marketing”)

• Potential marketing or listing packages

In many deals, the seller pays the broker out of proceeds at closing, but you should still ask plainly: Who pays the business broker fee, what gets paid upfront, and what triggers each payment. (Baton’s own breakdown of how brokers get paid summarizes the most common models.)

A Simple Commission Math Example

Fees are easiest to understand with simple math.

 Suppose your business sells for $1,000,000:

• At 10% commission, business broker fees = $100,000

• At 6% commission, fees = $60,000

That $40,000 difference is not abstract. It’s a year of runway, a down payment on your next venture, or simply money you keep because you built the asset.

And yes, business broker commission rates can vary widely based on deal size and structure, including tiered formulas.

Taxes and Transaction Expenses

Broker fees and other transaction costs can have tax implications depending on the deal structure and facts. Don’t wing this. 

Treat it like part of the deal model and ask your tax advisor early. The IRS provides general guidance on business sale concepts, and firms like Moss Adams outline common approaches to transaction costs.

The closing thought here is simple: The headline fee is only one part of what you pay. The contract terms determine the real cost.

How to Choose a Broker

Most owners try to choose a broker the way they’d choose a contractor: “Have you done work like this before?” That matters, but it’s not enough. The better question is: “What will you actually do, week by week, and how will I know it’s working?”

If you’re trying to choose a business broker, push for specificity in four areas: Proof of work, sourcing plan, reporting cadence, and agreement terms.

The Concrete Deliverables You Should Request Upfront

A serious broker should be able to show you (at least in redacted form) what they build and how they run a process. 

When Baton runs a sale process, we treat these as baseline outputs, not “extras”:

• Redacted CIM outline (or equivalent buyer package)

  • Company overview and “why now” narrative

  • Products and customers (with confidentiality controls)

  • Financial summary with add-backs and normalization logic

  • Growth levers and risks, framed like a buyer would see them

• Teaser (high-level summary that protects identity)

• Buyer outreach plan (channels and sequencing)

  • Direct outreach to targeted strategic and financial buyers

  • Marketplace distribution where appropriate

  • Follow-up rhythm tied to real buyer behavior, not hope

• NDA process (who signs, when, and how access is granted)

• Vetting checklist (your “do not waste time” filter)

  • Identity verification

  • Proof of funds standards (bank letter, brokerage statement, or lender pre-qual, depending on deal)

  • Relevant experience and intent

• Data room index (so diligence isn’t a scavenger hunt)

  • Financials, tax, legal, HR, customer concentration, operations

• Weekly reporting template (what happened, what’s next, where deals get stuck)

If your broker cannot show you examples of these deliverables, that’s a signal. You are not hiring a promise, you are hiring a process.

What the Weekly Reporting Should Look Like

Reporting does not need to be complicated, but it should be consistent. 

Here’s a simple template that keeps everyone honest:

Inquiries

• What it means: Buyers raised a hand

• Metrics to track weekly:

  • Number of inbound inquiries

  • Source mix

NDAs signed

• What it means: Buyers earned access

• Metrics to track weekly:

  • NDA conversion rate

  • Median time to NDA

Initial calls

• What it means: Serious first conversations

• Metrics to track weekly:

  • Number of buyer calls

  • Call quality notes

Management meetings

• What it means: Real intent

• Metrics to track weekly:

  • Buyer–seller meetings scheduled

  • Buyer–seller meetings completed

Indications / offers

• What it means: Commercial interest

• Metrics to track weekly:

  • Number of IOIs / LOIs

  • Offer range vs asking price

Diligence

• What it means: Verification phase

• Metrics to track weekly:

  • Open diligence items

  • Time spent in diligence stage

Closing

• What it means: Execution expected

Metrics to track weekly:

• Expected close date

• Active blockers

A good cadence feels like momentum you can see, not emails that simply reassure you everything is “going fine.”

KPIs and Red Flags in Months 1 to 3

Not every broker will “commit” to fixed KPIs, because every business is different. 

But in the first 30 to 90 days, there are still signals you can watch to decide whether the strategy needs to change:

• Engagement: Are qualified buyers actually inquiring, not just browsing?

• NDA conversion: Do serious buyers move from curiosity to commitment?

• Meeting velocity: Are buyer-seller meetings happening regularly?

• Feedback quality: Are objections consistent (price, customer concentration, owner dependency), or random noise?

• Time in stage: Does diligence keep stalling in the same place?

Red flags that justify changing strategy typically include low-quality inquiry volume, consistent feedback that pricing is outside market reality, repeated drop-off after financial review, or a diligence pattern that reveals a story gap you need to fix.

The close here: You’re not looking for perfection, you’re looking for a process that learns and adapts quickly.

Contract Terms That Matter More Than the Sales Pitch

You should expect exclusivity and tail provisions in most broker agreements, but you should also understand the details:

• Exclusivity length: Reasonable terms reflect the deal’s complexity, not the broker’s convenience.

• Tail clause language: Define exactly what “introduced” means, and include clear carve-outs where appropriate.

• Termination for cause: You should be able to exit if the broker is not performing core obligations.

• Performance milestones: Agree on what “activity” looks like (completed deliverables, launched outreach, maintained reporting cadence).

A broker relationship works best when expectations are explicit. Ambiguity is where disappointment grows.

For a deeper look at what to request, Baton’s guides on finding a broker to sell business and broker commission rates can help you frame the right questions before you sign anything.

Smarter Alternatives to a Traditional Broker

This is where the conversation usually gets more useful. Most owners are not choosing between “do everything myself” and “hand over the keys.” They’re choosing how to blend support and control.

If you’re weighing business broker vs marketplace, consider these three options.

Marketplace Plus Expert Guidance

A marketplace can widen distribution and compress the early “who’s out there?” phase, especially if it’s paired with strong packaging and screening. This approach can work well when you want greater transparency and lower fees, while still needing help with valuation, materials, and buyer qualification.

If you want the clearest version of this comparison, start with Baton’s marketplace vs broker breakdown.

DIY With Fixed-Fee Help at Key Moments

Some owners run outreach themselves and pay for help only when they need it: Valuation review, deal structuring, LOI review, and diligence project management. It can work, but only if you can maintain consistent response times and follow-ups. Deal momentum is fragile.

A Hybrid Approach

Hybrid is often the most owner-friendly path: start with prep and market testing, then scale support if demand is strong or complexity increases.

If your goal is to sell my business with a broker only if it truly improves the odds, a hybrid gives you a way to pay for outcomes, not just activity.

Step-by-Step Comparison

If you’ve been stuck in abstract tradeoffs, a direct comparison helps. Below is a practical look at the tasks that determine whether you actually close and at the differences between a traditional broker model and Baton Market’s approach.

Valuation

• Traditional broker: Broker-prepared opinion of value based on comps and discretion

• Baton Market: Data-backed valuation with transparent inputs and a clear range you can review

Packaging

• Traditional broker: Custom CIM and narrative prepared by broker, timing varies

• Baton Market: Standardized, investor-ready package built from your financials with fast turnaround

Outreach

• Traditional broker: Broker network plus selective marketplace listings

• Baton Market: Targeted distribution to a pre-qualified buyer pool and curated marketplace reach

Buyer Vetting

• Traditional broker: Manual screening and calls managed by the broker

• Baton Market: Consistent qualification checklist and buyer profiles visible to you

Updates

• Traditional broker: Periodic email or call summaries, cadence depends on the broker

• Baton Market: Always-on dashboard plus scheduled check-ins with visible pipeline metrics

Fees

• Traditional broker: Success commission, possible retainer, and marketing minimums

• Baton Market: Lower success-based fee model with no large upfronts

Time to Close

• Traditional broker: Varies by broker process and sourcing

• Baton Market: Streamlined steps and pre-qualified buyers are designed to compress timelines

Control and Visibility

• Traditional broker: Broker intermediates most interactions and documents

• Baton Market: You keep a line of sight on outreach, inquiries, and diligence progress in one place

No model is perfect for every business. The right answer is the one that matches your complexity, your time, and your value on visibility.

FAQs

These are the questions owners tend to ask once the decision becomes real.

Should I Use a Broker to Sell My Business?

If the deal is complex, confidentiality risk is high, or you cannot commit consistent time to outreach and negotiation, the broker route can be a safer path. If the business is simple and you have time to run a tight process, you may be better served by a marketplace or hybrid approach. If you want the longer version of the “why,” see Why Use a Broker to Sell Business.

How Long Does it Usually Take to Sell With a Broker?

Timelines vary, but market data often puts median time on market in the range of roughly six to nine months, with meaningful variation based on readiness and pricing.

Can I Switch if I am Unhappy With My Broker?

Sometimes, yes, but it depends on your contract. Read the exclusivity, termination, and tail clauses carefully. Switching can also create buyer confusion if outreach overlaps, so it’s best to build termination-for-cause and clear reporting expectations into the agreement from day one.

Can I Speak Directly With Buyers if I Hire a Broker?

In many processes, yes, especially once a buyer is vetted and serious. The broker’s job is to filter and structure early conversations, then help both sides move efficiently through meetings, offers, and diligence without derailing the timeline.

Will Buyers Take Me Less Seriously Without a Broker?

Not if your materials, pricing rationale, and process are professional. Buyers care about clarity and responsiveness. If you can provide clean financials, a credible narrative, and consistent follow-up, you can run a serious process without a traditional broker.

Keep More of What You Built

You don’t hire a broker to feel “supported.” You hire a broker (or choose an alternative) to protect confidentiality, reach qualified buyers, and maximize what you keep after fees, time, and stress. That’s the real scoreboard.

If you’re not sure which path fits, your next move should reduce uncertainty, not add work. Start with a free business valuation that gives you a clear range, helps you compare options apples-to-apples, and lets you decide how much support you actually need before you sign an exclusivity agreement.